A Scarborough supermarket has been fined thousands of dollars after the province's Ministry of Natural Resources discovered the store was selling a live invasive fish.

Eyes are set low on the face of a bighead carp, above. Live bighead carp have been sold illegally in some GTA supermarkets. Ontario inspectors worry the carp will endanger native fish if they escape into the Great Lakes.

By:Ann HuiStaff Reporter, Published on Sat Jan 16 2010

A Scarborough supermarket has been fined thousands of dollars after the province's Ministry of Natural Resources discovered the store was selling a live invasive fish.

During an inspection by ministry officers in February of last year, a live bighead carp was found in the New Wai Hong supermarket on Brimley Rd.

The case was heard on Wednesday by Justice of the Peace Alice Napier, who fined the supermarket $3,500.

The supermarket went out of business last year, shortly after the ministry inspection.

Invasive fish are species that are not native to Ontario, and considered "injurious" to the existing fish population.

"These are fish that propagate so rapidly and eat vegetation at such huge rates that they take over," said Matt Orok of the Lake Ontario Enforcement Unit.

Some of these species feed up to three times their body weight in a day, and can grow up to 100 pounds, threatening native populations.

There are nine species of fish classified as "invasive" by the ministry, including bighead, grass, silver and black carp – collectively known as Asian carp.

In 2004, legislation was passed to ban the live selling of some of these species. Despite this, the carp – particularly popular amongst Asian communities, which is where the species originates – continue to be sold in some GTA supermarkets.

In October of last year, Fuyao supermarket in Scarborough was also fined $4,500 for selling live bighead carp.

Orok said that though these cases are becoming increasingly rare, the few cases the ministry does find tend to be concentrated in the GTA.

According to Orok, ministry officers are not necessarily worried that the fish sold in supermarkets – destined, for the most part, for consumption – will end up in the water. Rather, the ministry is concerned about how the fish are transported, usually by truck from U.S. wholesalers.

"The worst case scenario is that one of these tractor trailers goes off a bridge somewhere and ends up in a tributary. Then we're in trouble."

Earlier this month, the province joined the state of Michigan to attempt to force Illinois to shut locks leading to the Great Lakes to keep out Asian carp. U.S. fish farms introduced the species to control vegetation. But some can escape during floods and make their way into main waterways.

With files from Tanya Talaga

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